Watch out! Trump's self-deportation program is a trap. [View all]

Source: The Hill

Watch out! Trump’s self-deportation program is a trap.

by Raul A. Reyes, opinion contributor - 05/22/25 8:30 AM ET

On Monday, the first charter flight conducted by Homeland Security as part of “Project Homecoming” took off from Houston, taking 64 migrants from Honduras and Colombia back to their home countries.

President Trump signed an executive order launching the project, designed to incentivize self-deportations by undocumented immigrants, earlier this month. People in the country illegally who use a government app to plan their departure will receive financial and travel assistance to return home. Once their return has been confirmed, these migrants will receive a $1,000 stipend. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called the plan “the best, safest, and most cost-effective way to leave the U.S. to avoid arrest.”

But this program is not as simple as it sounds.

The most obvious problem with Project Homecoming is that there is no law from Congress authorizing payments to undocumented immigrants. The Department of Homeland Security cannot unilaterally make such huge financial commitments. The lack of statutory authority will probably doom this program in the courts. While there is one law on the books that permits the use of government funds to deport “any alien who falls into distress” and is “desirous of being so removed,” it says nothing about providing deportees with cash stipends after they are home.

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Read more: https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/5311734-project-homecoming-migrant-deportation-controversy/